Single flange rail anchor



Feb. 22, 1949. F A, PRE TON 2,462,548

SINGLE FLANGE RAIL ANCHOR Filed Feb. 2'7, 1.947 2 Sheets-Sheet l flea 6226i Q. P11955022 Feb. 22,1949. F. A. PRE/STON 2,462,548

SINGLE FLANGE RAIL ANCHOR Filed Feb. 27, 1,947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 22, 1949 omit-En STAT ES PAT ENT" OFFICE;

SiNGLE FLANGE RAIL ANCHOR Frederick A. Preston, Lake Forest, 111;, assignor,

by mesne assignments, to Poordz- Company; Chicago, Ill., acorporation ofwDelaware Application February 27, 1947, Serial No. 731,250

This invention relatesto improvements in rail anchoring devices adapted to: grip the. base. portier-r ot a railroad rail and have abutting engagement with a fixed part: of the roadbed. to resist.

creepingmovements ofthe rail. 4

A- principal object otthe invention is to provide amanchor device of the above general character which is so-iormed that it will engage only a single flange of a rail base and will maintain. its-' position: ou the rail by means of a resilient wedge g-rip om the top-and bottom surfaces of said rail ibase flange;

A- rail anchor oi -the specific type: herein. con-.

templated has certain; advantages; over. the an--.

chors whichextendrentirely acrosstherail base imthatzit samba-economically made; from sheet metal; as; distinguished .from... metal bars. sequentlythepresent.anchoncanibem adeby simplifiedz. pressing and. bending operations and. can bareadily appliecton a, rail base. flangein a 9051-. tiom to; extendinto; the: spacebetween the rail and. the ton face oia. crosstierso as to-rabut against a verticalzedgesurfaceof thetie-plate. Theanchor,

beingunade; of flat-.metalnstochcan be made relativelyawideand be formed with a pressed rigidityingtcorru-gations thereinat-such location that the corrugation: will. not interfere withthe application; oftthezanchor. to-ax rail; in a position to. overlie the top face oithecrosstien A further. advantage of the: present invention, over. the: above type of anchors. whichextend. entirely. across. the. railbase, is. that. the, present anchor willihave holdingpower substantially equal.

to th'esaidbar type b'ut its weight and manufact'uri'ng cost are considerably less. Consequently more of thepresentfanchors can be applied to a.

rail'fand" thereby provide greater holdin power per rail" without additional cost.

It' istherefore an objectof the present invention to provide a rail'anchor which can be economically made of relatively widemateria-l so asto form surfaces'oflarge area for'frict-ional gripping engagement with the rail base: provide such anchorwith ad'equate' reinforcements' in the form fa: rigidifyingcorrugation, and WhichWil1-n0t score the rail basewhen it is driven" to its'applied position on a rail.

Thepresent invention presents another important advantage over-knownforms ofrail anchors which are ordinarily applied by driving them transversely of :the rail at location's: adjacent the. crosstie or the=tie-plate;- as: the case maybe. sncmzanchorsisare usually -app1ied;;as; closely as; pnssiblatozthezcrosstie onzthe: tie-plate, but the. applyingiiorcezismdinected:atlrightxiangleseto the;

5 Claims. (01. sea-323i length of the rail. Consequently the anchori's not forced into intimate initial contact with theisaids crosstie or tie-plates. In fact the desiredcloser contact is obtained: only by driving. the anchor: -leng-thwise of the railor by an. initial creepingv movement of thewrail inthe directionofa the crosstie.

toward the tie-plate, whereby the applying. force will drive the anchorlfirmly against an edge sure face of. the tie-plate. firm initial contact between the rail anchorion. a tie-plate, theztie-plate will be moved lengthwise" of'therail to take: up any looseness which. may exist between the tie-plate and the rail spikesior' other devicesfor. fastening saidLplate to the' cr'o'sstie,

One approved form of anchor device; constructediinaccordance with thisinvention; isillus trated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view'throu'ghz.

the basepcrtion of a railroad rail showin the improved anchor device applied to: oneiflanget of the rail base in a position to bear against an edge: surface of a crosstie.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in.

, v Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view ofthe structures shown inFigs. 1 and 2 showing the manner in which the lower jaw member of the anchor device ex tends into the space between the bottom surface of a rail base and thetop surface of a crosstie: so as to abut against a tie-plate interposed be-. tween: the rail and. said tie.

Fig. 4 isa plan view of arblanklfrom which the:

anchor device. is formed.

Fig. 5 is a View in.1p1an:of:theblankzaften it; is. bent upon. itself to' form. the; improved anchor;

device.

The invention is illustratedin connection. with.

a. fragmentary portion of a railway. track include ing a base portion ID of a railroadsrail',acrosstie H and a tie-plate [2. The tie-plate is interposed between the rail base l0 andthe top face of the crosstie and is secured in position thereonby: means of railspike l3l3 or otherapproved. forms of fastening devices. The saidtie-plate l2:

In additionto: insuring-.

is normally of less width than the crosstie II. Consequently the edge I4 of the plate is spaced inwardly from the side face of the crosstie as shown best in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

The improved rail anchor is in the form of a V-shaped device comprisin an upper jaw I5, a lower jaw IE, and a bend portion I! which connects the upper jaw with the lower jaw. The lower jaw extends in a horizontal plane so that the entire area of the flat surface I8 thereof bears flat against the bottom surface I9 and the rail base I 0." The upper jaw I is inclined relative to the lower jaw I6 at an angle which is slightly less than the slope of the top surface 20 of the rail base so that when the anchor is driven to its applied position the jaw I5 will flex upwardly until the flat bottom surfaces 2 I22 thereof bears flat against the inclined surface 20 of the rail base. When this condition occurs, the inner surface 23 of the bend I'I bears against the vertical edge of the rail base. The said bend I1 is preferably, so formed as to provide clearance spaces 24 and 25 adjacent the upper and lower corners of the rail base flange so as to avoid bindin of the anchor on said corner portions of the rail.

The upper jaw I5 of the anchor, when viewed in plan, is disposed at an angle to the bottom jaw I Band extends in a direction diagonal to the length of the rail. The end of the bend H which is from the tie-plate is flattened to provide a flat striking surface 26 which is normal to the opposite edges of the upper jaw. The said striking surface is formed at the location indicated so that the hammer blows for driving the anchor onto the rail flange will be directed against the said striking surface direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 so as to force the surface 21 of the lower jaw I6 against the edge I4 of the tie-plate when the anchor reaches its final position. This pressure against the edge I4 of the tie-plate will move the plate suiflciently to force the edges 28 of its spike holes into firm contact with the shank portion of the spike I3.

The tie-plate engaging edge 27 of the anchor is preferably cut away at 29 so that the tie-plate engaging surface will be confined to a space less than the full length of jaw I6 and thereby prevent the end portion of the lower jaw from engaging the tie-plate.

The anchor device is rigidified by a centrally located corrugation. The portion 30 of the corrugation which extends around the bend I'I preferably extends parallel to the side edges of the lower jaw. The portion 3I which rigidifies the upper jaw I5 extends parallel to the side edges of the jaw. The ends of the jaws I5 and I6 are preferably rounded to prevent scorin of the rail when the anchor is driven to its applied position.

The blank from which the anchor is formed is shown in Fig. 4 It consists of a main body portion 32 and an angularly disposed end 33. The rigidifying is pressed in the blank. The portion 30, it will be seen, is parallel to the side edges of the body 32 and the portion 3| is parallel to the side edges of the angular end portion 33 of the blank. The blank is bent upon itself about the dot and dash lines 34 and 35 to the position shown in Fig. 5. In this position the angular portion 33 of the blank constitutes the upper jaw I5 of the anchor.

I claim:

1. A rail anchor comprising an upper jaw and a lower jaw which together engage and grip the top-and bottom surfaces of one base flange of the rail, the said lower jaw being positioned to extend transversely beneath the rail base at substantially right angles to the length of the rail and the said upper jaw being disposed at an angle to the lower jaw to extend over the top surface of the said base flange in a direction diagonal to the length of the rail, and means defining a flat striking surface, the plane of which extends at substantially right angles to the longitudinal center of the upper jaw, whereby the application of force is normally delivered to said striking surface in a direction aligned with the upper jaw.

2. A rail anchor comprising an upper jaw and a lower jaw which together engage and grip the top and bottom surfaces of one base flange of the rail, the said lower jaw being positioned to extend transversely beneath the rail base at substantially right angles to the length of the rail and the said upper jaw being disposed at an angle to the lower jaw to extend over the top surface of the said base flange in a direction diagonal to the length of the rail, and means defining a striking surface, the plane of which extends at substantially right angles to the longitudinal center of the upper jaw and is located at one side of said longitudinal center whereby force applied to said striking surface forces the, anchor device in a diagonal direction onto thebase flange of the rail.

3. A rail anchor comprising an upper jaw and a lower jaw which together engage and grip the top and bottom surfaces of one base flange of the rail, the said lower jaw being positioned to extend transversely beneath the rail base at substantially right angles to the'length of the rail and the said upper jaw being disposed at an angle to the lower jaw to extend over the top surface of the said base flange in a direction diagonal to the length of the rail, means defining a flat striking surface, the plane of which extends at substantially right angles to the longitudinal center of the upper jaw, whereby the application of force is normally delivered to said striking surface in a direction aligned with the upper jaw, and a pressed reinforcing corrugation, a portion of which extends longitudinally of the upper jaw and parallel to said longitudinal center and another portion of which extends parallel to the longitudinal center of the lower jaw.

4. In a railway track structure for resisting creeping movement of a railroad rail including a rail, a tie-plate on which the rail is supported, a crosstie, and means extending through openings in the tie-plate to fasten said plate to the crosstie; of a rail clamp adapted to be driven into frictional holding engagement with the top and bottom surfaces of the rail base; said clamp comprising a lower jaw adapted to extend beneath the rail base at substantially right angles to the rail and. bear against an edge of the tie-plate, an upper jaw positioned at an angle to extend in a direction diagonal to the length of the rail and in a direction toward said tie-plate, and means defining a flat striking surface at one side of the longitudinal center of the anchor device, the plane of said striking surface being positioned at right angles to the longitudinal center of the upper jaw, whereby the force for driving the anchor onto the rail is normally applied to said striking surface in a direction aligned with said upper jaw, so as to simultaneously force the anchor into firm engagement with the crosstie and also force the plate into firm engagement with its fastening means; the inner end of said lower jaw being cut away to prevent the end thereof engaging the tie-plate.

5. In a railway track structure for resisting creeping movement of a railroad rail including a rail, a tie-plate on which the rail is supported, a crosstie, and means extending through openings in the tie-plate to fasten said plate to the crosstie; of a rail clamp adapted to be driven into frictional holding engagement with the top and bottom surfaces of the rail base; said clamp comprising a lower jaw adapted to extend beneath the rail base at substantially right angles to the rail and bear against an edge of the tie-plate, an upper jaw positioned at an angle to extend in a direction diagonal to the length of the rail and in a direction toward said tie-plate, and means defining a flat striking surface at one side of the longitudinal center of the anchor device, the plane of said striking surface being positioned at right angles to the longitudinal center of the upper jaw, whereby the force for driving the 6 anchor onto the rail is normally applied to said striking surface in a direction aligned with said upper jaw, so as to simultaneously force the anchor into firm engagement with its fastening means; the tie-plate engaging face of the lower jaw being cut away so as to reduce the tie-plate abutting surface thereof and confine the said tie abutting surface to a location near the outer portion of the anchor device.

FREDERICK A. PRESTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,201,279 Elfborg Oct. 17, 1916 1,364,263 Fair -1 Jan. 4, 1921 Colbie Feb. 27, 1934 2,325,851 Hamilton Aug. 3, 1943 

